The CW Smacks Down WWE

NBC musical dazzles critics... mostly

(NEWSER) - If you watched the Super Bowl, you just might have heard of Smash, NBC's new drama about the making of a Broadway musical. It premiered last night, and critics are (mostly) giving it a standing ovation:

• The buzz has gotten so intense that the conversation isn't even about whether it'll be good. "Good? Darling, it's great!" gushes Mary McNamara of the LA Times . The creators have "managed to capture the grand and sweeping gesture that is musical theater and inject it with the immediate intimacy of television," an impressive, unprecedented feat.

Andre Davis didn't tell sex partners about disease

(NEWSER) - A professional wrestler has been sentenced in Ohio to 32 years or having sex with at least 11 women without telling them he has HIV—or lying that he was healthy. Andre Davis, 29—who has wrestled under the stage names "Gangsta of Love" and "Sweet Sexy Sensation"—was convicted of felonious assault, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Davis argued in court that he's a "sex addict" who was too "scared" to tell anyone he had HIV, and that he didn't intend to hurt anyone. "I am a loving and compassionate man. I'm not a monster," he said. But a prosecutor called him a "manipulative man and a liar." More»

NBC gives Handler a lot of freedom: 'LAT'

(NEWSER) - If you were worrying that a Chelsea Handler sitcom on network TV would tame the bawdy comedian, you can stop. Tonight's NBC debut of Are You There, Chelsea? features bartender Chelsea, played by Laura Prepon, behind bars for drunk driving, where she prays (to vodka) and promises to change her life. No, not to quit drinking ... just to relocate within walking distance of the watering hole. The show also includes the sex term "lady wood," the Los Angeles Times notes. More»

Once-dominant drama will end after next season, source says

(NEWSER) - Things might have just gotten a little more desperate than usual over on Wisteria Lane: ABC is canceling longtime stalwart Desperate Housewives, the network confirmed today to the AP. "We want to make sure it has its victory lap," ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee said in making the announcement that the show would end after next season. The show, which has seen once-stellar ratings lag, is also losing creator Marc Cherry as producer next season. More»

Joanie Loves Chachi, but this list doesn't

(NEWSER) - PopCrunch rounds up 16 of the worst TV spinoffs of all time: Here's a sampling:

• Joanie Loves Chachi: "A mewling stillborn abomination that starred two people who obviously hated each other." Happy Days deserved better.
• Galactica 1980: Bad acting and a lame plot doomed this spinoff of the original Battlestar Galatica.